Market briefing

Mainland China

China’s overall ranking of 7th places it in the bottom half of the Asian Digital Transformation Index. It occupies the identical position in each of the three Index pillars, with weaknesses outweighing strengths in each of them. The country’s ICT infrastructure has benefitted from considerable policy attention and investment in recent years, but significant gaps remain, particularly in fixed broadband networks. The educational system produces large numbers of skilled engineers and technicians, but the pool of digital talent available to companies is thin. The practice of forming digital partnerships is not well developed. On the other hand, China boasts a handful of highly digitised companies that are amongst the world’s leaders in some online markets, suggesting that digital transformation is achievable despite weaknesses in the environment.

At 8th place, Thailand ranks in the bottom half of the Asian Digital Transformation Index, behind the region’s more technologically developed countries but ahead of India, the Philippines, and Indonesia.